Let's say I've created a 'Join Table' to keep track of subject
keywords that apply to various film titles. (Each film can have many
keywords, each keyword can apply to many films.) So I've got a
primary ID keys in both of the tables and am joining them with an
intermediate table called 'Occurrence' that contains foreign keys from
both tables.

I'm familiar now with the approach of putting a portal in the Film
table and employing a value list based on the primary key of the
'Subject Word' and displaying the word itself so you would select the
desired word of each occurrence (though with a big lexicon that would
be an untenably huge menu . . . ?).

But what if you don't have a lexicon of keywords already established
in that Table, but instead want to build the lexicon "on the fly",
adding the keywords only as you find occasion to use them? Do you
have to havethe user do a preliminary "Add word to Lexicon" step via a
script and then have them apply that word to the current film record?
Or is there a method for setting up a portal involving a join table so
that you type the word into a text box (perhaps with auto-complete)
and if it doesn't match an existing keyword, a new record for it
would be created in the Keyword table all in one step?

Optimistically,
Albert